In contemporary America dissent has been defined as hatred and hushed.  On this Super Bowl Sunday, 2012, I lovingly disagree!  (If two people agree, or pretend to agree, on everything; at least one of them is intentionally being politically correct.)

American culture constantly brainwashes us with many misleading, false, and/or harmful ideas.  Here are some of them and a brief reason why I disagree with each one.

The Super Bowl is considered to be one of the greatest events of the year.  I disagree!  (The birth of even one child, wanted or unwanted, is a much greater event than the Super Bowl game.)

Marriage vows are meaningless; it’s normal to break them; and they can be broken without fault or harm.  I lovingly disagree!  (Divorce devastates and crushes almost everybody who does it, even if they pretend to be okay.  Children are especially hurt by it.)

Drugs are the primary answer to our health problems.  I pleasantly disagree!  (A healthy diet, self-control, exercise, safety, wholesome thinking, and moral living are much better ways to deal with health problems than drugs.)

We don’t need to be concerned about the very poor because they have a “safety net.”  (Thanks to Mitt Romney for reminding me of this one.)  I kindly disagree!  (The very poor desperately need us to be personal role models for them.  They need friendships with people who are better off than they are, to help them overcome the tremendous mental, emotional, and societal obstacles in their path.)

Judeo-Christian morality is wrong (and hateful) and should be ignored.  I lovingly disagree!  (Ignoring Judeo-Christian morality is a sure-fire way to experience self-destruction, emotional chaos, and depression.  So why does my spell check not even recognize Judeo-Christian as a word?)

Living together without commitment is love.  I logically disagree!  (Commitment is part of the very definition of love.)

Evolution effectively explains our existence.  I thoughtfully disagree!  (I just can’t buy the idea that a pre-existing blob of matter, plus lots of time, single-handedly produced all the precision and complexity that surround us.)

Casual sex is good and harmless.  I kindly disagree!  (Broken hearts, unwanted children, fatherless children, guilt,  poverty, abortions, abuse, and disease disprove that claim.)

Watching violence is harmless entertainment.  I disagree!  (Regular exposure to images of violence feeds dysfunction, stirs up anxiety and fear, breeds depression, and hardens the human conscience.)

Prenatal killing is okay.  I kindly disagree!  (A person’s a person no matter how small.)

A person’s desires and/or compulsions define who he is and he should be true to who he is by proudly obeying his cravings.  I pleasantly disagree!  (Surrender to compulsions is abandoning self-control and turning your life over to destructive forces.)

War is a legitimate way of dealing with international conflict.  I sadly disagree!  (A famous general said:  “War is hell!”  Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others have shown that nonviolent direct action can be much more effective than war, if we only have the courage to use it.)

A person’s faith in God should be kept quiet and have no effect on how he lives his life in public.  I disagree.  (Thanks to Tim Tebow for showing the positive and powerful impact that even one person’s faith can have.)

I originally entitled this blog post:  I Disagree!  Descent On Super Bowl Sunday.  Fortunately someone dissented with me and told me that I had misspelled the word dissent.  So I corrected my mistake.

I really appreciate the dissent this person voiced toward me.  It enabled me to see my mistake and correct it. That shows how important it is for us not to oppose open dissent.